Stroll Through Time: A Walking Tour of Glasgow’s West End

Glasgow is a vibrant city, known for its wonderful architecture, music scene, and rich history. It’s also been home to plenty of leading academics and local celebrities. On this fun and informative walking tour around the West End of Glasgow, you’ll learn about them all. You’ll also get an overview of the area and its history.

Our tour starts outside Hillhead station, one of the stops on the world’s third oldest subway system. You’ll stroll down cobbled Ashton Lane, the most photographed street in Scotland, as you head up to the University of Glasgow. You’ll walk through Professors’ Square, once home to eight houses for the eight subjects that were taught when the school was founded. As you make your way through the University of Glasgow Cloisters, I’ll tell you about the great alumni who studied here, including seven Nobel Prize winners, two UK Prime Ministers, and three First Ministers of Scotland.

You’ll meander through the beautiful Kelvingrove Park and all its nature, past the iconic red sandstone institution, Kelvin Hall Open Collections, one of the largest exhibition centres in Britain and today a mixed-use arts and sports venue. Your route cuts through Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which has displayed some of the world’s finest masterpieces for 100 years. The tour ends in front of Òran Mór, a pub across the road from Glasgow Botanic Gardens, where you can take in a calmer environment away from the bustle of the city.

On this two-hour stroll, you’ll also have a chance to:

• Learn why the Glasgow Subway is referred to as the Clockwork Orange and hear about the city’s Sub Crawl!
• See Ubiquitous Chip, the restaurant whose owner, Ronnie Clydesdale, was credited with bringing fine dining to Glasgow and paving the way for major redevelopment around Ashton Lane
• Discover the venue where world-famous New York punk band The Ramones played in the 1970s (hint: it’s opposite the James McCune Smith Learning Hub), and hear how the city was awarded UNESCO ‘City of Music’ status in 2008
• Pass the house where William Thomson (Lord Kelvin, the father of modern-day physics) lived in the late 1800s, and listen to tales about Joseph Lister, the father of modern-day economics and antiseptic
• Wander down Great Western Road, the third coolest street in the world according to Time Out magazine in 2022, and find out how it nearly suffered a fate which may have changed it forever

By the end of this tour, you’ll have a greater appreciation for the events that shaped this rich, vibrant area, and experienced the buzz and bustle of its streets today.